Rochford Wines

Rochford Macedon Ranges Chardonnay

Vintage
2002

Varieties
100% Chardonnay

Tasting Notes
Brilliant light straw with a green edge. The nose shows classic cool climate chardonnay perfume combined with citrus and honey melon overlayed with nutty oak. The palate is rich and creamy. Barrel fermentation and maturation complements the fruit structure and adds depth and complexity to this wine. The malo lactic fermentation has created subtle complexities without being dominating. However there is still plenty of natural acidity to give length and freshness to the finish.

Cellaring
3 to 5 years

Winemaking
The great thing about making wine in a cool region is that the fruit comes into the winery at a nice low temperature. This year we had fruit temperatures of about 13 degrees centigrade. This naturally low fruit temperature allows us to whole bunch press our chardonnay. This results in very high quality juice with well-defined fruit flavours, low phenolic extraction and very low solids levels. After overnight settling the juice was racked into French oak barriques and a pure yeast culture was added. Following primary fermentation the wine underwent 100% malo lactic fermentation and this was followed by 9 months maturation on yeast lees. The wine was racked from barrel in January and bottled in early March 2003.

Viticultural Notes
The 2001/2002 growing season was extremely cool but relatively dry. This resulted in a slightly later than normal vintage with picking not commencing until 11th May. Fruit quality was excellent with sugars in the low thirteens promising to give wines of around 13.5 percent alcohol. As is normal at Rochford all picking was done by hand.

Technical Data
Alcohol 13.5% by volume
pH 3.35
Titratable acidity 7.2 grams per litre
Residual Sugar 0.5 grams per litre

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